Whether heading to the local park or the dreaded veterinarian, dogs are common passengers in their master's automobiles. While some dogs feel right at home sitting on a car seat or sticking their head out of the car's window, many dogs are uncomfortable in a moving vehicle and constantly move around within the vehicle thereby distracting the driver from watching the road and maintaining the same level of control over the vehicle which they would if undistracted. Well-behaved or not, it is unsafe for the dog to be unsecured in the car because an abrupt stop, or even a sharp turn, can cause the dog to be jostled around and injured. When accidents occur, the force with which a dog gets thrown around inside the vehicle can cause serious, and sometimes fatal, injury to the dog.
Also, if an accident occurs, frightened and injured animals within the car can impede medical personnel from administering care to potentially injured passengers. The fact that the injured dog is loose within the car is a significant problem in these circumstances because, if frightened to the point of violence, the medical personnel may have to deal with the dog first, slowing down their response time to the injured passengers. Indeed, even if unharmed and nonaggressive, a dog free to move within a crashed car can cause trouble for medical personnel simply by interfering with them doing their jobs.
A known dog harness device for use in an automobile provides adjustable collar and girth straps which attach around a dog's neck and lower chest area, respectively. A chest piece bridges these two straps and extends vertically, from the collar strap to the girth strap along the dog's chest. The dog and girth straps intersect at the dog's back and are secured to each other as well as to a harness loop which accepts the insertion of a car's seatbelt. Thus, a dog wearing the harness can be secured to a car's seatbelt and restrained within a car. However, this device may not provide adequate protection if an accident occurs.
The collar and girth straps of the prior art device circle the dog's neck and chest area and are attached by a plastic buckle system. The straps intersect at the dog's back so that one end of the collar strap, bearing an insertion end of a buckle, encircles the dog's neck area and engages a receiving end of a buckle carried on one end of the girth strap. Similarly, the other end of the girth strap, bearing an insertion end of a buckle, encircles the dog's lower chest area and engages a receiving end of a buckle carried on the other end of the collar strap. These buckles, when mated, are in close proximity to the intersection of the straps and are stress points of the harness device. In the event of an accident, the large forces exerted on the collar and girth straps could cause the buckles on those straps to fail thereby releasing the dog from the harness and exposing it to harm.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a dog harness for use in a car which will not only secure a dog from roaming around the car and distracting the driver, but will also provide adequate protection to the dog in the case of an accident and keep the dog restrained so that it may not impede medical personnel from administering care to other passengers. Furthermore, such a harness would need to fit comfortably on the dog because, if the dog is uncomfortable, the dog may whine and fidget around and distract the driver. Therefore, an uncomfortable harness would be counter productive to one of the benefits that such a car harness is to provide. Finally, the harness should adapt quickly and easily to a dog's body and should be able to be used in any type of car. Inasmuch as every car provides its passengers with a seatbelt safety feature, the needs described above would best be served by providing a dog car harness that could be quickly attached to a car's seatbelt.